Time Flies

It'll be one month tomorrow morning - wow, that went by fast. But we've made good progress: we've got an apartment, Ali's talked to a couple headhunters (and even had a job interview), and I'll be able to register for classes next week. Last week we found a wonderful little South Indian restaurant (according to the menu, "No professional chefs, just real home cooking"), the best coffee shop in the city (complete with two resident gray tabbies that purr at the merest touch), and perhaps best of all, we've got Whoosh! Last weekend we went to the Migrant Expo - sort of a trade show for new immigrants, with booths for everything from community services to immigration lawyers to job and business opportunities. We got a lot of good tips, including an alternative to Telecom's monopoly-priced internet service: wide area wireless. Ali signed up, got their special modem thingy, plugged in his laptop and - voila! No more trips to the internet cafe just to check email - halilujah.

We'll be moving into our new place this weekend and, if all goes well, we should have our stuff next week. I'm really looking forward to having my own home again. Especially a real kitchen. But one thing I will miss about the Heritage Grand, where we've been staying for the past month, is the rooftop hot tub. Unfortunately, the weather was too cold and rainy to use it much until a couple days ago. But it's finally warming up, and a couple nights ago we went up after a long day of furniture shopping. There's a great view of the harbor bridge, and the city was all lit up, and a pinkish sunset was draining out of the sky. It was even clear enough to see the stars coming out. And then watch full moon coming up. It was beautiful, but a little weird. It looks upside down from here. Really. Like the Man in the Moon is doing a headstand.

I'm sure I'll get used to it. Someday.

Cheers,
Sandie

Labour Day

It's Labour Day, the unofficial start of (early) summer - and the all-important tourist season. They're predicting 900,000 tourists this year, which is 100,000 more than last year, and almost one-quarter of the country's population. NZ really is a great place to visit - so keep a visit to us in mind when you're making vacation plans - although it will be a bit more fun once the NZ$ stops trying to hit new highs against the US$.

Obviously, the greenback's current weakness is a bit of a sore point these days. The exchange rate is about NZ$.70 - US$1.00 right now - near its all-time high. (The last time we visited, almost three years ago, it was NZ$.45 - US$1.00 - at/near the all-time low.) Local prices for lots of things are similar to U.S. prices - a loaf of bakery bread is about $4, you can find decent wine for less than $7; lettuce is $1.20/head, and you can get really great venison sausage for about $4.50 a pound. Milk is a bit pricey, since $3 only gets you 2 litres (about a half gallon, which is the standard size bottle), and that translates to fairly high cheese prices, too. (But local cheeses are really good, so it's worth it.) And some things are a great bargain: you can get a beautiful big pineapple for as little as $2 (which helps ease the pain of seeing crummy imported pomegranates going for $5 each). And NZ prices are gst inclusive, so there isn't any additional sales tax tacked on at the register.

But last week I completely lost it when I needed contact lens solution. A bottle of saline - the plain kind (without any protein remover, so you still need to buy enzyme tablets) - cost NZ$20 for a bottle that was only 240 ml! For comparison, at Walmart or Target, you can buy a 12 oz (355 ml) bottle of saline+protein remover for about US$2. After I stopped hyperventilating, I went to the internet and checked 1-800-Contacts. Thank God for the 'Net! I can order c/l solution online and even after shipping, it's cheaper than buying it in the pharmacy here. (I'm all for buying locally and want to support the NZ economy, but there's something totally out of whack here.)

Why c/l solution is only available at the pharmacy, and costs over ten times more than in the U.S., is one of many mysteries I want to understand. After being out of law school for so long, I had completely taken for granted how much a legal education taught me. Now I walk around every day going, hmmm, I wonder what that means or how this works. I can make guesses, but being the persnickety type that I am, I want to know. So, I've decided to study law again. Not just the LLM, but I'm also going to tackle the NZ Law and Practice Exams - their equivalent of the bar. I figure it's the best way to get my head around this place. And it will also keep me from getting too used to just hanging around enjoying myself.

Cheers,
Sandie

A Visit From Scarface

Furniture shopping, step one (a bed and mattress), accomplished - check. We also found a table we liked, but need to go back because the chairs that go with it weren't in stock yet. The store had just opened three weeks ago, and the supplier for the chairs had been burglarized before he delivered the chairs. The couple who ran the store said they'll call us when they're in, so . . .

I've spent the last couple days hanging around the University of Auckland, and espcially the School of Law. The university seems like a fun place, it's right in the heart of the city, across from (yet another) beautiful city park, and the food court offerings were heavily tilted towards Asian flavors. And every office I stopped in, people knew my name. I did some e-mailing with them over the summer, but I was still amazed, especially since they get a lot of international students at U of A. Anyway, it made for a nice welcome.

Yesterday, in addition to reading up on the prescribed study materials for taking NZ's equivalent to the bar exam (more on that later), I went to hear a talk by none other than Justice Antonin Scalia at the law school. Yep, J. Scarface (as Ali calls him), potentially the Most Dangerous Man In America. I had no idea what he was doing here (the Supreme Court just began a new session, right?), but later I saw signs for Lex Mundi events in town. The audience was very appreciative (it probably helped there'd been a BBQ on the law school lawn at lunch time, and it was clear that a LOT of beer had been consumed), and seemed to be eating out of his hand. Until an older prof started asking some pointed questions that made clear just where Scarface's philosophy leads (e.g., Brown v. Bd of Education would never have got a hearing if Scarface were Chief Justice). You could almost hear their very pc kiwi brains exploding.

At least I like to think they were exploding. How can anyone listen to him and not?

Cheers,
Sandie

We Got One

We found an apartment - yeah!!! It's a townhouse, actually - 3 bd\2 ba across from a small park and with great views of Auckland's skyline. It's located on the edge of Parnell, an historic neighborhood full of cafes and shops, and it's only a 10 minute walk to the University and about 15 min's walk to the CBD, so the location is perfect. We had to give 2 weeks notice to our current landlord, so we won't be moving into the new place until near the end of October.

This is good, since we don't have any furniture yet. We've been told our container is now at the Port of Auckland, so it should just be a matter of getting the paperwork and clearing customs until we can reclaim our belongings. However, since we gave away (or tossed out) virtually all of our furniture when we left Philly five months ago, we need to do some shopping. So, tomorrow we're going to rent a car and go to Wairea, a district north of the city that seems to be The Land of Furniture Stores. Since there's no Ikea in NZ - a lack of international chains is one of Middle Earth's charms - and we're hoping to find stuff that's locally made, it should be an interesting day. (Especially the driving on the left side of the road part.)

Sidenote: I tried to see "Outfoxed" last night. (It was being screened at a local comedy club.) I got there 30 minutes early, and not only were all 150 seats already sold out, there were 10-12 people waiting to see if they'd be allowed to sit on the floor. And there were a good 2 dozen people behind me, too. (And I didn't hear a single American accent.) All this interest, and Fox News isn't available here (yet another of ME's charms).

Cheers,
Sandie

Cognitive Dissonance and Shellfish Chowder

Ok, so the last debate proves that W is educable - he can be trained to behave himself in front of a camera. My fav pithy comment about the debate (so far at least) is from wonkette.com:

"No child left behind is really a jobs act," says Bush. Of course. And Social Security is really a missile defense program. And Federal Highways funding? Actually a part of the Metric Conversion Office. And clean coal legislation helps you make soup.

Anyway, now that that's over, back to Middle Earth.

It's October, and Spring is in the air. But they're hanging garlands of evergreens with Christmas decorations in the store windows. Better still, the local "adult" store has decorated it's manequins with a Halloween theme. Auckland's got both daffodils and roses in bloom, but it's too chilly to go out without a jacket and it's been drizzling off and on forever. (Or a week, at least. But we lived in Seattle for two years, so this is NOT a problem. Yet.) In Australia, they just hit a record high - 38 degrees. Which sounds like spring temps to me, but actually means it's really hot. And don't even get me started on what time it is where when I'm trying to call the USA (or watch the candidates' debate). Must be a case of the Cognitive Dissonance Blues.

My favorite cure for CDB (or almost anything else, for that matter) is homemade soup. So last night I gave my toy kitchen a workout and made a crayfish chowder. In NZ, "crayfish" are big, spiny South Pacific lobsters. We splurged att he fish market a couple days ago, so this was an encore performance for their shells. It turned out great, and would work just as well with lobsters, crabs, and probably shrimp shells, so I thought I'd share the recipe:

Shellfish Chowder

2 crawfish shells (or equivalent)
1 Tb oil or butter
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 potatoes, diced
2 tomatoes, diced
1 c cream

Put shells in a pot with water to cover - about 2 liters (8 cups). Bring to boil, then reduce heat to simmer for about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat oil or butter in a large saute pan; add onion, cook until translucent. Then add garlic, cook just until fragrant; then add potatoes and tomatoes. Cover and cook until tender - about 10-15 minutes - stirring occassionally.

When shells have cooked, strain the broth out and discard shells. Once potatoes are tender, combine vegetables and broth; reheat if necessary. Add cream, and season to taste with salt and pepper (it takes a lot of salt).

Serve with crusty bread. Bon appetite!

Cheers,
Sandie

Still Looking Around

With no set schedule, no job or anything, it's amazing how the days just fly by. (And kind of run together - why is it that the less you have to do the longer everything takes?) Mornings we get up and have coffee/tea, read the newspaper, maybe watch a little CNN or BBC. Then we head out in a new direction to explore yet another Auckland neighborhood (or three). We've covered more than half the city so far, and looked at enough places to live that I'm starting to get them confused. But it's a great way to get familiar with our new hometown, adn its characters. (The other day we tried to catch a bus stopped at a light. The driver waved us forward, and stopped after he crossed the intersection. When he opened the door (in a thick Eastern European accent): "Sorry, I cannot take passengers at traffic light," he shrugged, but then his face broke into a big, sly grin. "I can, but is VERY expensive.")

Since I'm planning to start a master's program (Law and/or Planning) at the U of Auckland in the fall (i.e., March!), and Ali's most likely to be working in the CBD, we're leaning towards a close-in neighborhood so we don't have to commute. The north shore is really, really nice, but all traffic has to go over the Harbor Bridge, which is a total bummer. Plus, the central city area is fairly lively, has good access to the waterfront (there's a great bike path that goes for at least 50 kms), and is close to everything. There's a serious building boom going on, so we're "spoiled for choice," as they say. Prices are a bit high, but they don't get much better if you move further out (you just get more space for your money).

Where you do get real value here is seafood. OMG! Friday night we went to the Auckland Fish Market; after living in Seattle, I didn't think anyone else's seafood markets could impress me, but this was awesome. And live mussels were less than $3/kilo. Think US$1 per pound. Everything was incredibly fresh, and there's oodles of stuff I've never seen before. We're both going to have to get a lot of exercise to counteract all the experiementing I plan to do.

Cheers,
Sandie

A Whole Week's Gone By?

We've been here almost a week already, and all signs of jet lag have disappeared, but I'm still looking the wrong way when I cross the street. (Since the drivers here are maniacs, it's a habit I need to break soon.) Auckland's got a bit of something for everyone, from everywhere: we're enjoying all kinds of Asian street food, there's a channel showing Iranian TV, the pubs feel just like Merrie Olde England, and I was able to watch Cheney and Edwards duke it out on CNN this afternoon. (Ali claims he lost all interest in American politics the moment we took off from LAX.)

But getting an internet connection at home is another matter altogether. The hotel we're in is a wireless hotspot - a logical thing for a place full of international travelers - but you need to have a local NZ internet account to use it. Go figure.

We're still looking at places to rent; it's a big city and new places pop up every day. Kiwis must move around a lot, since rent is charged by the week and 3 months constitutes a "long term" lease. However, we're not in as big a rush as we expected to be - it turns out that our container isn't here. (It was supposed to arrive the same day we did last week, and yes, everyone told us it would not be.) Turns out it's still in the USA. On the bright side, this means we don't have to put our stuff into storage right away. (And I'd rather not think about the "other" side.)

Cheers,
Sandie

All Moved In

Today we moved into our apartment. It's a furnished one bedroom, with a decent small kitchen in a very nice hotel, so we can use the gym and the pool, too. It's actually roomy enough to stay in for much longer than we'd expected.

Over the weekend we were looking at places for long term rental. We were ready to sign a lease for a very cute house right on the edge of the Domain, but someone else got to it first. Probably just as well. The next day we found an even nicer place, a brand new townhouse near the beach just north of the city center. We're still thinking about that one.

What happened next is typical NZ. After looking at the townhouse we took a bus north and walked around for a few hours, getting a feel for the neighborhood, which includes a big, beautiful park on a lake. We stumbled onto a gorgeous house right by the lake with a "for rent" sign out front. Just as we were leaving, the agent from the townhouse pulled into the driveway next door. He told us the lake house had just been rented (by him) but, since he lived next door he insisted we come in for a glass of wine and meet his family. An hour later we felt like we were part of the family - and their cat, Twinkle, didn't want to get off my lap so we could leave.

Cheers,
Sandie